quick Diopter changes

[Anthony Vallejo-Sanderson]

Hey, 

 

I randomly came across this on ebay:

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Xume-72mm-Camera-Lens-Filter-Adapter-Ring-holder-Pro-kit-Kenko-Hoya-B-W-fit-/171066254292?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27d457e3d4

 

 

Sounds like it would be great for faster Diopter changes. Few of my concerns (besides a hundred bucks for magnets) are possible vignetting? I know I get some vignetting when I stack diopters on my isco 36, full frame.  

 

Anyone have any experiences with these?

[Sebastien Farges]

Hey, 

 

I randomly came across this on ebay:

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Xume-72mm-Camera-Lens-Filter-Adapter-Ring-holder-Pro-kit-Kenko-Hoya-B-W-fit-/171066254292?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27d457e3d4

 

 

Sounds like it would be great for faster Diopter changes. Few of my concerns (besides a hundred bucks for magnets) are possible vignetting? I know I get some vignetting when I stack diopters on my isco 36, full frame.  

 

Anyone have any experiences with these?

 

Yes me, it's working perfect ! I have also put it on variable ND, so I can put the diopter alone, the ND alone, or the diopter + the ND.

It's enough strong to carry all this, even with my heavy achromatic diopters.

 

[Lucian]

Wow, that looks awesome! great find!

 

Seb: I'm surprised you trust it to hold a tokina and variable ND, it must be strong!

 

It looks like it adds in total about the thickness of an extra tokina, which is quite a bit in terms of additional vignette, I'd say it would take 5mm off your range on isco + asp-c.

[Lucian]

I pulled the trigger and bought some. I spent a lot of time getting diopters, nd's, polarizers off the iscorama on my last short, these could be a real time saver if they work well.

 

Thanks for the tip!

[Anthony Vallejo-Sanderson]

Great! Mine should be getting in tomorrow, going to run some test as soon as they get in.

[ch_d]

Can you guys post something about reliability ... Can this thing handle a heavy Tokina +0.4 achromat?

[Lucian]

@ch_d  checkout seb's picture, he's got a tokina on there !

[Tito Ferradans]

@Lucian but he's got the (much) lighter and cheaper +0.5 single element, instead of the doublet +0.4. hehehe

[QuickHitRecord]

I've used them with the doublet, no problem.

[Lucian]

So I gave them a quick a test, tried rigging two 0.4 doublets and a 72mm helios variable ND to the end of iscorama, each with their own magnet. It works pretty well, however when I sat my shoulder rig down a bit to roughly, the jolt dislodged one of the filters, luckily only a short drop onto carpet. And as you would expect, increased vignette a bit.

 

I'm not sure how I feel about them, seems like one clumsy bump and your filters could break. Wish they were a bit stronger.

[Anthony Vallejo-Sanderson]

So after using them on a test shoot I've come to realize that what you gain in speed you forfeit for security....like Lucian said above. It's so nice being able to change out diopters so quickly though, but I can only imagine after some time the magnets will start to fade. I'm not sure I would trust it with a expensive/rare filter/diopter, especially during handheld shots. 

Another thing I would note about the filters is the idea of magnets and media (SD/CF cards) together in the same gear bag. Makes me nervous. 

 

So in conclusion, I'd keep it old school and take the few extra seconds to screw on a diopter. 

[Sebastien Farges]

I'm using it with SLR achromat heavy diopters, no problem... I also tried with two achromat diopters.... :) But obviously you have to be a little careful ;)